


Underneath the Christmas Tree

by Roshwen



Series: All I want for Christmas [5]
Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Cassandra Knows Just What To Do With That, Ezekiel Is Happy To Sit Back Relax And Enjoy The Show, Festive Smut, Jake Has Trust Issues, More About Intimacy And Trust Than Actual Smut, Multi, Not The Hardcore Christmas Bonding Fic You Are Looking For, This Is Why You Don't Let Them De-Decorate Without Supervision, inappropriate use of tinsel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 23:28:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14604078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roshwen/pseuds/Roshwen
Summary: Ezekiel has seen Jake’sthis-is-a-great-handjob facebefore. Helikesthat face, especially if Ezekiel is the one to make it happen himself. This, this is something different. This looks more like Jake’sI’m-about-to-ascend-to-the-fifth-dimensionface.Ezekiel is not quite sure why Jake is looking like that but that does not mean he isn’t going to enjoy the show.





	Underneath the Christmas Tree

‘Wow.’

That is all Ezekiel can say, as he stands frozen in the Annex doorway. It’s true the sight in front of him is magnificent, truly amazing, but it is also a sight he most definitely did _not_ expect to see right now. Not in the least because Jenkins might blunder in here at any moment, and ruin the mood faster than you could say ‘cockblocking’.

Cassandra looks up. ‘Hey,’ she says, momentarily shifting her considerable focus away from Jake, who is prone on the floor, his eyes closed and his head resting in Cassandra’s lap. Cassandra’s voice sounds a lot softer, a lot lower than her usual happy chirp, and that might be one of the reasons for the utter bliss on Jake’s face. Although Cassandra’s hand down the front of his pants also might have something to do with it, as well as the piece of… is that _tinsel? …_ wrapped around his wrists and keeping his arms tied together behind his back.

Even so. Ezekiel has seen Jake’s _this-is-a-great-handjob_ face before. He _likes_ that face, especially if Ezekiel is the one to make it happen himself. This, this is something different. This looks more like Jake’s _I’m-about-to-ascend-to-the-fifth-dimension_ face, which Ezekiel has only seen a couple of times. And _never_ when the other party still has all their clothes on.

Ezekiel _loves_ that face. And he’s not quite sure _why_ Jake is looking like that, when Cassandra is apparently doing nothing more than carding through his hair and slowly, ever so slowly stroking his cock (it looks more like a very intimate kind of massage than a handjob, to be honest), but that does not mean he isn’t going to enjoy the show.

\---

_Thirty minutes earlier…_

‘Hey Cassie, I found those decoration boxes you wanted,’ Jake announces, walking into the Annex without seeing anything. The boxes in question he is carrying are blocking the view, and it’s not until he’s set them down on a nearby desk that he sees why he isn’t getting a reply.

‘Cassie?’

Still nothing. She probably hasn’t even heard him, even though she is sitting on the floor only a few feet away. But now Jake can see her, and he can see that though Cassandra is sitting right there, still all dolled up in a bright green dress with golden trimmings, even though Christmas has been over for more than a week now, her mind is somewhere completely different. Cassandra’s eyes are unfocused, staring at the tree in front of her. The tree she was meant to de-decorate, and to be fair, there are a couple of baubles, some pinecones and even some strands of tinsel lying next to her, waiting to be packed up in their boxes and moved to the attic for another year. Cassandra’s hands are waving through the air, though not like they do when she’s calculating something; they are beating a rhythm, like a conductor in front of an invisible orchestra, and when Jake takes a step closer, he can hear a faint humming.

He recognizes the melody immediately, and he almost bursts out laughing. Almost. But that would ruin the moment, and pull Cassandra out of whatever place she’s in right now. From the faint smile on her face, Jake can see that it’s a good place, if not to say a happy place, and those are rare enough that he bites back his laughter. Instead he grins, before he takes another step and sits down behind her, so close that they’re almost touching but not too close that she absolutely has to acknowledge his presence.

After another minute, the humming stops. Cassandra shifts back, the barest fraction of an inch that’s left between her and Jake, and leans in against him with a pleased hum. In response, Jake wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her in just that little bit closer.

‘Never pegged you for a Messiah girl,’ he murmurs, pressing the lightest of kisses to the top of her ear. The warm, sweet scent of vanilla fills his nose and he smiles, nuzzling another kiss into red curls softer than silk.

Cassandra hums again, a low vibrato that dances pleasantly across Jake’s skin. ‘It’s soothing,’ she mutters back. ‘And it smells like Christmas. Pine tree and mulled wine and firewood.’

‘It does, does it?’ Jake asks, pressing third kiss to that delectable spot right at the corner of her jaw. Cassandra tilts her head in response, exposing the entire vulnerable column of her neck to him. It’s a small gesture, probably way less deep than Jake is looking into it right now, but it also speaks of an intimacy and trust between the two of them that, if nothing else, has come from very far away. Right before Jake has his breath back and he can start kissing his way down to her shoulder, however, Cassandra stills.

‘Wait.’

She turns around, still kneeling, to face him. ‘You,’ she says, and the tone of her voice causes Jake to change mental gears very quickly. Because this isn’t the usual, bright and chirpy Cassie. This isn’t even the cool, professional tone of Cassandra Cillian, Librarian.

This… this is someone else entirely. Someone speaking in a soft, low voice that curls hot into Jake’s gut, and then a bit lower. Someone looking at him with eyes that see right into his brain, right into the room with all his buttons and levers, and she’s deciding which ones she is going to give a go.

Jake can already feel his heart rate pick up in anticipation.

‘You,’ Cassandra says again, shifting closer so that her lips brush against his cheek, ‘you are firewood too. Firewood and red and the beating of drums, all wrapped up until…’

She reaches out, cups his cheek and holds him there, one small thumb stroking over his stubble as she kisses him briefly, so briefly it hurts. ‘… until you’re _you.’_

Good lord, that voice. Jake thinks he finally might understand a part of Cassandra’s synesthesia, especially the part where either he or Ezekiel can get her all hot and bothered just by talking to her. Because Cassandra has barely done anything, _Jake_ has barely done anything, and yet, breathing is already getting difficult and his pants are already getting uncomfortably tight.

‘Drums,’ he manages, because he can get the firewood, and perhaps even the red, but. Drums?

Cassandra nods, sliding down a little so that her mouth is moving against his neck in a delicious tease. ‘Drums are loud,’ she whispers, and Jake swallows, his eyes falling closed as she presses a kiss to his throat, right at his jugular. ‘They are powerful. Angry, intense. But steady too, and they keep everything on track.’

‘Huh,’ is all Jake has to say to that.

Cassandra straightens up and smiles, a slow, all-knowing smile before she kisses him again, deeper this time. She pulls herself upward so she can straddle his lap while she buries her hands in his hair. Jake responds automatically, sliding his hands up and down her back before they settle on her ass, pulling her close to get some premature friction going. It might be a bit much a bit fast, but if Jake doesn’t get _some_ sort of control back _very_ soon, who knows what will happen.

‘Wait.’

Too late.

Cassandra sits back and favors him with another calculating look. And when Cassandra gives you a calculating look, as Jake knows all too well, shit’s about to get real. He looks back at her, not shrinking under her stare. Instead he takes in the view, of flaming curls spilling over green velvet, of rosy lips and blue eyes. He watches as Cassandra studies him for a long moment, drinking in this living piece of art.

And this is art he gets to _touch._ So he reaches out again, framing that porcelain face with a rough, work-tanned hand. Cassandra closes her eyes, leaning into his caress like a cat for a second before she snaps upright again. ‘No,’ she says, smiling again at Jake’s confusion, mingled with rising interest. ‘No. I… I think I want to try something else.’

‘What’d’you wanna try, darlin’? Jake asks, fully aware how husky his voice is starting to sound. From the way Cassandra swallows and suppresses a shiver before she moves closer again, back into his arms, she notices as well. With her warm weight pressed against his chest, Jake can’t resist running his hands over her svelte form, up and down across her spine until he can see the gooseflesh breaking out on the back of her neck. He places a kiss there as well, for good measure, eliciting another shiver. ‘What are you plannin’, Cassie?’ he asks again.

There’s a brief pause before Cassandra says, so softly that Jake has to strain to hear her, even though her mouth is an inch away from his ear: ‘Do you trust me?’

The question is so far out of left field that Jake forgets how to breathe for a second. Then the answer _with my life_ emerges from the depths of his subconscious and now he has his breath back, but he has to count them very carefully, lest he blurt it out and turn whatever is going on into an epic sap-fest.

He doesn’t know what Cassandra is doing to him. He can only hope there’s no magic involved, and he doesn’t think there is because they talked about that. At length. Whatever magical experiments Cassie wanted to conduct, that was fine with him, as long as she kept them out of their personal lives. (And as long as Jenkins was there to supervise). But in their day-to-day lives, even when they’re not running around to save the world, it is a fact that Jacob Stone, somehow, someway, has come to trust Cassandra Cillian.

And right now, sitting on the floor of the Annex in front of a demi-decorated Christmas tree with a girl smelling of pine needles and vanilla in his arms, a girl that tells him he’s firewood and red and drums in a voice that makes it sound like those three are the most important things on the entire planet… right now, Jake would happily get up, go fetch an executioner’s block, hand Cassandra the axe and lie down his head, if she asked.

_Jesus,_ look at how far gone he is already. The realization spikes through him, crackling hot under his skin as he closes his eyes and tightens his grip on Cassandra’s hips for just a moment.

She moves back, cupping his chin and lifting his head up so he has to look at her. He does, not bothering to hide the expression on his face.

‘Do you trust me?’ Cassandra asks again, less softly this time. It’s more urgent now, as if she needs him to say it before she can proceed with whatever she’s cooked up in that magnificent brain of hers.

‘Yeah,’ Jake rasps. ‘I… yeah.’

Cassandra nods. She lets go of Jake’s chin and gives him a soft smile before she gently removes his hands from her hips. Jake watches her get up, a little confused, but then she bends down to press a kiss to his temple and mutter: ‘Take this off,’ with a tug at his hoodie and shirt.

As he does so, and tries not to sigh at the cool air hitting his flushed skin, Jake can’t see what Cassandra is doing. He does hear some rustling, and he can feel her coming around to sit down behind him, but it’s not until she’s sliding her hands down one of his arms and tells him to put them behind his back that he gets a faint inkling of what’s going to happen. This gets confirmed when he feels something soft and prickly being wrapped around his wrists, once, twice, three times, before it’s tied into a tight knot.

‘You’re tyin’ me up with tinsel?’ he asks, almost laughing out loud. ‘Really?’

‘You were getting too handsy,’ Cassandra replies, almost dreamily, and Jake shuts up immediately. ‘And I know it’s not very strong,’ Cassandra says as she gives a couple of careful tugs while Jake is trying to come to grips with the situation, ‘but if you trust me, then you won’t try to break free anyway. Or would you?’

No, Jake would not. Taking his silence for the confirmation it is, Cassandra slides one arm around his waist while the other is still resting on his wrists, pulling him flush against her. Jake goes willingly, not that he has much choice in the matter, and groans as he feels the barest hint of teeth scraping across the skin of his shoulder. Another love bite follows the first one, sharper this time, followed by a kiss that’s a bit more gentle. Cassandra shifts, moving to his other shoulder and doing the same thing there, switching between soothing kisses and sharp teeth and this should not make Jake as flustered as it does.

Maybe it’s Cassandra’s hands, roving up and down his chest in time with her mouth on his back. Maybe it’s everything leading up to this, the synesthesia and the groping and the kissing and the unexpected trust fall. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s utterly incapable, that he’s _voluntarily_ made himself utterly incapable to do anything in return, that he can only sit there and surrender himself into the clever hands of this very capable woman that makes something inside him go _click._ Something deep inside him falls into place until he releases a long breath, lets his eyes fall shut and allows himself to relax completely.

‘Good,’ he hears Cassandra mutter from very far away. ‘That’s good, you can relax.’

She shifts, reaches up and cards a hand through his hair while at the same time pulling his head down towards her shoulder. ‘You are always so in control,’ she says, and the smile in her voice makes Jake smile as well, even if he barely understands what she’s saying. ‘And you are very good at taking care of me. But now, for once. Just let me take care of you, alright?’

‘Baird,’ Jake manages to say, struggling for one last ounce of mental clarity. ‘Flynn, Jenkins. They…’

Cassandra chuckles. ‘They’re not here,’ she says, her hands still in his hair as she guides him even further down, down, down until Jake is lying stretched out on the floor, with his head in Cassandra’s lap. Soothing fingers keep stroking his scalp, her nails scraping his skin in a gloriously stinging contrast as Cassandra continues: ‘All three of them left about an hour ago for Nick’s After Christmas Party. The only one who _could_ come in here, is Ezekiel, and I don’t think he’ll mind seeing you like this. Do you?’

Jake doesn’t think Ezekiel would mind, either. More importantly, _Jake_ wouldn’t mind Ezekiel seeing him like this and that’s another realization in the _I trust you_ category that takes Jake’s breath away. He can see the picture clear as day, with him prone and half naked on the floor while Cassandra is doing her thing and the expression on Ezekiel’s face as he’s watching them, in that intense, almost hungry way he has…

_Oh._

A muffled groan escapes his throat as a wave of arousal sweeps through him. He tries to shift, tries to move against the growing tension, but Cassandra stops him, tightening her grip in his hair as a warning. ‘No, you lie still,’ she says, wrapping one arm around his chest to keep him down. ‘So you’d like that, hm?’

_Oh dear God yes,_ is something Jake does not say, because he is too busy trying to keep himself together. Cassandra can read his answer clear enough on his face, anyway, and he can hear how pleased she is with it as she says: ‘Well, whether he comes in or not. I think we can have some fun.’

Then her hands start moving, and Jake finds out he has grossly underestimated the trouble he’s in. Because Cassandra’s considerable knowledge of the human anatomy, including its most sensitive pressure points, combined with her small, nimble hands, means that it takes her no time at all before Jake finds himself teetering on the edge already. And that is _before_ one of those small hands slips down the front of his boxers and wraps around his cock. Pressure is building, building, as Cassandra starts stroking him more forcefully, but then. Just as Jake thinks he is seconds away from falling down and spilling over, Cassandra takes her hand away. The pressure is released, Jake breathes out and tries not to whine because _come on._

Through the haze, he hears a chuckle above him. ‘Not so fast, cowboy,’ Cassandra murmurs, settling her hands on his chest again. ‘Let’s see how long we can keep you like this.’

Resigned to his fate, Jake slumps back down, burying his face in the fabric of Cassandra’s dress. If this is how he dies, he thinks as he feels a hand slide down and stop right above his cock, hovering and edging there in the most magnificent kind of torture, then at least he’ll be in good hands.

\---

Ezekiel didn’t know it was possible to make Jake whimper like that. At least, not without various ribbed or vibrating accessories (or both), a significantly lower amount of clothing all around and perhaps a bottle of lube or two. The fact that Cassandra seems to have managed it with only her hands and voice is nothing short of magical. Even if there’s no actual magic involved, Ezekiel doesn’t care. Especially when another moan cuts through the hush that’s fallen over the Annex, as Cassandra does something complicated to Jake’s nipple. Ezekiel doesn’t quite follow what she’s doing, but from the sound Jake makes, he does not want her to stop.

Neither does Ezekiel. After he walked into the Annex, Cassandra told him that he could stay, but only if he stayed out of her way. So now he’s sitting perched on Eve’s desk, with a magnificent view of the Christmas tree, the soft lighting glinting in the baubles and decorations that are still hanging there and, more importantly, catching in Cassandra’s fiery hair as she bends her head down and mutters something into Jake’s ear. Jake’s breath hitches, all his muscles going taut for a moment before he relaxes again with a groan that reverberates into Ezekiel’s bones.

Cassandra straightens, and her expression grows amused as she sees the look on Ezekiel’s face. Then she returns to Jake, looking down at him with an expression that Ezekiel hasn’t seen before. It’s like she’s looking at a scientific puzzle, but there’s something else there, something powerful and tender at the same time and for a split second, Ezekiel feels relieved that he is not the subject of that look. He thinks he understands now why Jake is the one on the floor, and it’s not just because of the tinsel around his wrists.

‘Cassandra,’ he says softly, and the use of her full name is rare enough to make her look up. Meanwhile Jake is making little meowing noises into her dress, which is kind of hilarious and almost enough to make Ezekiel get his phone out and record it for posterity. Almost.

Cassandra is waiting patiently for Ezekiel to continue, so he swallows and clears his throat. ‘Don’t you think it’s time to put him out of his misery?’

A long moment passes, in which the entire Annex seems to hold its breath. Then, after favoring Ezekiel with an inscrutable stare that lasts just a bit too long for comfort, Cassandra nods. The hand in Jake’s pants starts moving faster, with purpose now, and the meowing noises stop. They are first replaced by a moan of relief and then a hoarse sound that goes straight to Ezekiel’s own cock as Jake slumps and rolls over to his stomach in a full-body shudder that almost lifts him off the ground with its force. Cassandra is only just in time in pulling her hand away, settling it instead on Jake’s back as he shudders again, and again, before he finally stills completely.

Ezekiel can’t see Jake’s face. He can’t even see if the guy is still breathing, and from the sudden worried look on Cassandra’s face, as she lands back into this universe and realizes what she’s done, she isn’t so sure about it either. Using one hand to carefully turn Jake’s shoulder, so she can see his face, she starts ripping off the tinsel from his wrists in a hurry, biting her lip as she glances down.

Watching them with bated breath, because he is still only a spectator in this, Ezekiel then sees how Cassandra sags in relief for a moment before she presses a kiss to Jake’s temple, muttering something in his ear. With his hands now free, Jake flails a little, still with no coordination whatsoever, until Cassandra grabs his hand and hauls him upright. Like a ragdoll Jake goes, mushing his face into her shoulder as he falls boneless against her. His weight knocks the wind right out of her before she wraps him up in her arms, kissing his cheek before looking over his shoulder at Ezekiel with the brightest smile he’s ever seen.

That’s all the invitation Ezekiel needs. He hops down from the desk and joins them at Jake’s other side, settling a hand on Jake’s shoulder as he sits himself down.

‘That,’ he says hoarsely, ‘that was quite a show.’

Jake mumbles something happily and unintelligibly into Cassandra’s shoulder. Cassandra laughs and kisses his hair, still smiling widely. ‘Thank you for joining,’ she says, an amused note in her voice that makes Ezekiel wonder, but not for long.

He shifts, so he can take part of Jake’s weight off of Cassandra and, more importantly, so that he can use his free hand to cup Cassandra’s face and draw her in for a kiss. This elicits another happy mumble from Jake, who is apparently taking his sweet time in coming back to earth, so the moment he lets go of Cassandra, Ezekiel turns his head and kisses the cowboy. It’s soft and sweet, a bit messy and a bit wet but glorious all the same.

As Jake slumps back against Ezekiel’s shoulder with a sigh, Ezekiel looks down fondly before he grins at Cassandra. ‘If this is what he’s like with a bit of tinsel,’ he says, ‘then I kind of want to see what happens if we truss him up like a turkey and let you _really_ have your way with him.’

Jake’s breath hitches, right before he goes completely still. A long second passes before Cassandra looks at Ezekiel with wide eyes. ‘I think his heart just gave out.’

Ezekiel snorts and squeezes Jake tighter for a moment, holding out his other arm for Cassandra. ‘C’mere.’

Cassandra goes willingly, unaware of the trap that’s being set up for her. Because just as she’s snuggled up against Ezekiel’s chest, Jake blinks back into full consciousness. ‘Jones,’ he rasps, looking blearily down at Cassandra before he looks up at Ezekiel with a mischievous glint in his eye. ‘Ezekiel. Avenge me.’

Ezekiel grins back, tightening his arm around Cassandra’s waist as she tenses. ‘I will, brother,’ he vows, pressing a kiss to Jake’s forehead and firmly ignoring the indignant ‘this was _not_ part of the plan’ being muttered into his shirt. ‘I will.’

\---

Much later, when they finally leave the Annex, the tree is still standing, and the decorations (at least, most of the decorations) are still waiting to be packed away. But that’s okay. They’ll get to that tomorrow.

They have more important stuff to do tonight.


End file.
